The eye reportedly incurs various damage when exposed to ultraviolet light (Saito et al., Jpn Opthalmol 2010; 54: 486-493, Per G. Soderberg, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 107 (2011) 389-392). As a result, many products, such as eyeglasses and contact lenses, that minimize the transmission of ultraviolet light to the extent possible to prevent excessive eye exposure to ultraviolet light are now commercially available.
Meanwhile, the number of persons with myopia is reportedly still increasing worldwide. Myopia includes refractive myopia and axial myopia, many cases being axial myopia. With axial myopia, myopia progresses in association with elongation of an axial length of the eye, and the elongation is irreversible (Morgan I G et al., Lancet, 2012). When myopia progresses, high myopia occurs, and high myopia is known as the leading cause of blindness (Iwase A. et al., Ophthalmology, 2006). For this reason, there has been strong demand for means for preventing the occurrence of myopia and means for suppressing the progression of myopia.